THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 11, 8 September 1939, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run

Through The Programmes

HEY had picture theatres in 1914, but it is doubtful if they knew then as much as they know now about the use of films for educational purposes, or the use of education for propaganda purposes. Mrs. F. R. Thompson, who is to talk about educational aspects of the films from 4YA on Tuesday, September 12 at 7.30 p.m., might find it topical to notice that one of France’s first steps in declaring a condition of national emergency on August 28 was to include films in the censorship covering news, broadcasting, photography, telegrams, and cables. Mazeppa’s Ride Just as the history of old Scotland is filled with stories of bold, fearless rascals, go the Cossacks of Russia have many tales of Robin Hoods of the steppes. One of the most colourful figures in Cossack history, and one who

has been the subject of plays, novels, operas and paintings, is Ivan Stepanovich Mazeppa, who lived in the seventeenth century. One day a nobleman surprised the rogue having an intrigue with his wife, and had him bound to his horse, which carried him torn and bleeding to the wilds of the Ukraine. This daunted him not at all, and he went boldly on to make for himself a place in history and legend. On Sunday, September 10, at 2 p.m. the symphonic poem, " Mazeppa," by Franz Liszt, will be presented from 2YA Wellington. Villa Villainy Sam Shotter was a slippery sort of cove, but his American Uncle didn’t think so, so he shot him over to England to earn himself a slice of the necessary. Accompanied by Hash, his favourite retainer, he swithered into the quiet life of Old England, parked himself at "Mon Repos," and also went into a dither about the girl next door. A trio of

= blithe bounders came beetling in after some booty planted by a former owner of "Mon Repos" who had succeeded in robbing a bank; and the fun, which included the debagging of a Lord, started with a whoop and a bang. But Sam ended up by murmuring the usual sweet nothings into a shell-pink ear. P. G. Wodehouse might describe his story in some such terms as the above; anyway, listen in to 4YA Dunedin at 9.5 p.m. on Sunday, September 10, and you're sure of getting a good laugh, because the play "Semi-Detached," a radio adaptation of Wodehouse’s novel, "Sam The Sudden," will be presented. " Galloping Gertie " "Galloping Gertie" has crashed the movies! In other words, 5ZB, the CBS mobile unit, will be figuring in the Centennial Film. It was arranged to take shots, so Ian Mackay, who was in charge of the unit while it was on tour, and Eric Gilfillan, of the Head Office technical staff, became film stars for the day, and accompanied "Gertie" to Trentham, where the shots were taken. Useful One of the queerest of the jobs of work in the NBS series may seem to be that of an astronomer. Is gazing at the stars a job of work within the meaning of the Act? As a matter of fact, the world would be seriously inconvenienced if there were no astronomers, quite apart from the loss of interest in those problems Jeans and Eddington deal with so fascinatingly. There are professional astronomers in New Zealand. One of them is to be interviewed from 2YC on Thursday, September 14, at 8.42 p.m. Back on the Air Do you remember "The Magazine of the Air" in which various kinds of children’s interests were catered for? It was suspended__ for a time while readjustments were mad¢ in the Service, but has now been revived by > Bryan O’Brien. This is a session to which grown-ups as well as children listen, for the simple reason that it is informative and entertaining. Boost For Busby If there is one over-worked remark about the early history of New Zealand it is that James Busby, the British Resident at the Bay of Islands in the ’thirties, was a "man-

as "of-war without guns." We know one fastidious reader who is quite cross about the way this description is repeated. But of recent years there has been a revaluation of Busby’s service and character. Eric Ramsden, a New Zealand journalist who has been working in Sydney for some years, has made a special study of Busby from material in the Mitchell library, and from the Busby family. He has also worked over a lot of material in Australia bearing on Samuel Marsden, the pioneer missionary; and he will talk about both men from 1YA, beginning on September 14. Affinity A few hundred years ago the Vikings came across the North Sea and conquered England, and thus two races were fused. There is even to-day much affinity between the people of Scandinavia and the people of England, not only in physical resemblance, but also in outlook and thought. Whether there is affinity in the music of the two peoples, listeners to 2YC Wellington on Tuesday, September 12, will best be able to judge for themselves, for they will hear a concert of the works of English and Scandinavian composers. The Irish Way Two ancient crones get together over a bottle of inspiration to try out their vocal powers, and the results are rather weirder than the imagination can conceive. It is safe to say that never before have several wellknown songs of Ireland been given such an unusual rendering, and while the purists may shudder at the malapropisms of these two old dears, everyone should get a laugh from the BBC sketch, "The Vicar’s Concert Party," which will be presented from 1YA Auckland at 9.45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 13. The Bohemian Life Many people have the idea that dressing only in a sheet and eating nothing but asparagus tips, or living in a room with a black ceiling and a glass floor is being Bohemian. It would be truer to say that _ Bohemianism is a state of mind; a state of mind in which most artists and writers naturally exist. The French opera "Louise," by Charpentier, tells of the yearnings of a young girl for the Bohemian life, her love for Julien, an artist, and how she finally finds happiness. This opera in the romantic

tradition will be presented at 9.5 p.m. on Sunday, September 10, from 2YA Wellington. Discourse of Fools? Speaking of the weather has. been described as the discourse of fools. So what a lot of fools we must be, since the weather provides our conversational mainstay. "Everyman" has joined our ranks. He has satisfied his curiosity about geography, and now passes by an easy transition to inquire about meteorology. He has discovered there is a great deal in it-enough for three sessions with an official forecaster, to begin from 2YA at 7,30 p.m. on September 11. He Was A Scarecrow William Cobbett started life scaring crows. He rose to be a ploughman, and having saved the half-crown, which took him to London, he worked there as a clerk. He enlisted, and while he was soldiering read widely. After his discharge he went to America, taught English to French refugees,

and kept himself by his pen. When he returned to England in 1800 he became one of the most famous \journalists of his time, and one of the most uncompromising reformers. He spoke simple language for simple people, as you will hear if you listen to 1YA at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, September 14, when J. R. Morris will talk on Cobbett in the Winter Course series, Empire Service The BBC Empire Service from Daventry has been much in the public mind lately, but listeners may not know that from September 10, Transmission 1 (for Oceania and New Zealand) will begin at 6 pm. (our time) instead of 4,30 p.m.